A pirated disc sells for RM5 from a production outlay of about RM2.50 each.The price covers costs of electricity and the disc that comes with good quality surface paper, printing and packaging.

dodgy business – a constant cat and mouse game with the authorities.

Take the example of reformed vendor Robin (not his real name). He went to Singapore to work after completing Form Five. In 2009, he came back to Kuching and found it quite tough getting a job. It was while job-hunting that he got in touch with old friends and went clubbing with them.

Then one day, a friend in the pirated discs business offered him a job with the prospects of earning RM4,000 in commission a month on average. Some seven years ago in Kuching, that was a tidy sum. He would give half to his parents to help them out.

Later, not contented with being just an employee, he negotiated with his boss for a share – albeit a small one – in the business.

His family and his girlfriend knew about it and were worried for him but there wasn’t much they could do to dissuade him.

“I needed to eat and pay the bills, you know. There wasn’t much choice,” he recalled.

After running the business for five years, Robin quit due to problems over profit-sharing. He did not get any bonus and commission for a year.

The thought of quitting had, in fact, crossed his mind earlier. He decided it was time he left because he could foresee the pirated CDs business would be affected by advent of more advanced technology that delivers a world of contents -- apps and games, latest online movies and other related technologies.

Moreover, Robin realised he had to look to a better future rather than depending on an uncertain livelihood.

He shared that one of his periodical errands was to go to his boss’ house to “burn” CDs and order stocks.

According to him, a pirated disc sells for RM5 from a production outlay of about RM2.50 each. The price covers costs of electricity and the disc that comes with good quality surface paper, printing and packaging.

A computer with two monitors is used to burn the CDs. Each monitor can accommodate five CDs at each burning session.

As for the blue ray disc copy, it fetches RM17 each from a production capital of RM7. An original blue ray disc costs more than RM100.

Robin said after the shop ordered the production materials, he would meet the supplier at a designated public place during the day to collect so as not to arouse any suspicion. Special software Burning discs requires a special software and a hacker software. The hacker software, also called the ‘hammer locker’ software, is for breaking the security codes of some original discs to enable copying.

“It actually takes longer time to break the code than to copy,” Robin said.